Saudi bound

Posted on 31 October, 2015 by Lissa Layman

Jeff and I were excited when we were asked to present at a GAFE Summit in Saudi Arabia…we’re only 1.5 hours from the border and not many people are able to actually set foot in the country.

It’s been a bit of a process to get visas since it is one of the most difficult countries to travel to. We ended up going with transit visas which means we are allowed to be in Saudi in transit to Bahrain. With Saud as our chauffeur, we’ll leave early morning and aim to be at the border by sunrise (we’ve been advised that the road from Kuwait to Dhahran is curvy not not well lit). We’ll present 1.5 days (we have to miss the 1st morning) with a trip to Bahrain for dinner & drinks before heading back to Kuwait (again early am to be back at school for the afternoon).

Besides obtaining visas (which are safely in our passports) and prepping our sessions, there are other things we’ve had to take into consideration for this trip: I need to be wearing an abaya & hijab when not at the school. As we approach the Kuwait – Saudi border I’ll have to don my cover. We saw this as an opportunity: Abby and I have wanted an excuse to go abaya shopping!

Yesterday after our monthly pedicures, we headed to the old souq with Jeff & Saud.

1st stop: tasty snacks.

This entire bag of goodies cost us 1.2KD (~$4). Our ‘snack’ ended up being dinner for 4.

2nd stop: when you find chips Oman in Kuwait, you must buy them up.

Then it was time to start perusing the shops for our favorite abayas. If you think an abaya is just a simple black cloak, think again. There are as many varieties (if not more) of abayas as jeans.

We wondered in & out of shops, trying on different abayas and deciding what features we were looking for. I fell in love in an abaya (not shown) that had a unique cinched waist & v-neck but between the price tag (20KD) and extra fabric, it wasn’t as flattering on me as the mannequin.

Abby’s face has been cropped because she wasn’t posing.

After much deliberation, Abby and I both ended up with front opening abayas with lace details. Both hijabs are mine (because of course I needed a summer and winter one). My abaya was 12KD + 2KD summer hijab & 3KD winter hijab. Abby’s abaya was 10KD. [The exchange rate is currently 1KD = $3.30.] Not bad for gorgeous new clothes! I’m ready for Saudi & Abby has her textile from Kuwait. We’re open to ideas for where else we should wear our new outfits 😉

Just realized this is our 100th post. How fun 🙂

Frankfurt to Cologne: 320€ & 3km

Posted on 9 June, 2015 by Lissa Layman

We made it. To our beautiful AirBnb in Cologne.

I’m sitting atop the private rooftop balcony writing this with blue skies, puffy white clouds and sun that doesn’t make me run inside. But it’s a miracle we’re here.

We arrived at the Kuwait airport 2.5 hours before our flight, said our (temporary) goodbyes to Saud and sailed through security.
We hung out in the airport lounge (only booze would make it better).
We slept almost the entire flight on a new plane with gorgeous personal entertainment screens BUT we had to walk through first and business classes to see the luxury we were missing. That cuts deep.
We said our see-you-laters to many more friends.
Our luggage was waiting for us on the belt BUT one of our wheels was missing.
We weren’t able to find a place to buy a SIM card nor an ATM with euros.
We arrived at our train platform for Cologne early BUT we missed the train because our car was at the other end of the platform and the conductor waved us on (as we were sprinting…yes my toe is fractured) instead of waving us onto the train.
We were able to secure seats on the next train (an hour later) BUT had to pay more than the original price of our 1st class tickets for 2nd class tickets.
We made it to Cologne BUT arrived at the train station that was across the river from our AirBnB instead of across the street.
Maps did us wrong and we ended up walking 3km (with luggage in toe) to this beautiful apartment.
I realized I forgot both my running shoes (I was deciding which pair to bring home and ended up not bringing either).
Jeff & Abby had to carry 4 huge suitcases up lots and lots of stairs.

It’s so interesting to think about all the little what-ifs that could make life quite different. We can’t be mad at anyone that we missed the train. It sucked a whole lot. But there is no point in being angry. However – what if I had just let us continue down to the end of platform that our car ended up being at (instead of making us turn around because I was too cold)? What if we Jeff had heard me when I told him to just get on the train when the conductors held up their orange signs? What if I had grabbed a pair of running shoes when I said I was going to or Jeff had seen my shoes and thought to ask when he put the box in the extra room? Sometimes life intrigues me. And I’m not sure how to deal with all the what-ifs and could-have-beens. Except this.

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Enjoying this (Kolsch & pork) feast together in the sun on a street in Cologne in June may have made the entire ordeal worth it. When we’re all sore and exhausted tomorrow…we’ll have to think of this meal and the many more to come. Oh…and the US Men’s National Soccer game against Germany tomorrow. We’ll cheer loud but I think we deserve a win!

One thing led to another

Posted on 6 December, 2014 by Lissa Layman

This morning when the alarm went off at 6am I was in no mood to get out of bed. Yesterday I worked on presentations until almost 11pm. I was exhausted!

But dang did it turn out to be a fantastic day! I co-presented with Abby for the first time – a ton of fun!

Then we headed to our favorite event of the month – Qout Market. We met new vendors and visited some of our favorite vendors (now friends) in Kuwait.

After we had soaked up the atmosphere, we headed to pick up the picture that Jeff & I got printed on canvas…but detours awaited us! First we found the Secret Garden (it’s actually not so secret). We’ve seen it on @mimikuwait‘s instagram a lot and have really wanted to go on a Saturday morning but haven’t made it a priority yet. WOW! I haven’t seen many pictures of the whole garden and didn’t know what to expect. It’s amazing!! And SO incredibly close to home.

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Our second detour was to check out @monstarium‘s latest project. Check out his pictures/videos for the making of! And it turns out a restaurant we want to try is just around the corner – looks gorgeous inside!

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We finally made it to pick up our picture. I’m in love. I was seriously jumping up & down when I saw it. It might be my favorite piece we own. I cannot wait to get it up on our wall!

Here are some other new additions that we bought at the Christmas bazaar yesterday to get us in the holiday spirit (we’ll be home in 16 days!):

It’s been the an absolutely beautiful weekend. Warm sun, cool air. My favorite time to be living in Kuwait. G’night everyone!

Accidental twins

Posted on 26 March, 2014 by Lissa Layman

Thursday (tomorrow) is twin day in the elementary. Abby and I decided that we’d be twins together. We racked our brain for shirts we could wear with jeans. Monday night Abby looked through my closet to find a shirt. It was tough!! We finally decided on a Banana shirt that we both have (in different colors).

Then I walked into her classroom yesterday (Tuesday, NOT twin day) morning and this had happened. I guess we have more clothes in common than we thought!

Today (Thursday) we were planned twins! Look closely…our shirts are the same just different colors 🙂
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Athens – Last (half) Day

Posted on 18 March, 2013 by Lissa Layman

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

We absolutely couldn’t leave Athens without going up to the Acropolis! We got up early on Tuesday, packed up and headed out. We LOVED the location of our apartment…only a 15 minute walk from door to top of the Acropolis! We had an awesome time looking around before heading back down to catch the metro to the airport. This site was a great resource for us as we were traveling around the city! If you want to see all 500+ of our photos (Day 1 & 2 posts only have iPhone pictures), check out the album.

Ruins at the metro station.

Bye Athens!

Athens – Day 3

Posted on 25 February, 2013 by Lissa Layman

Day 3…a couple weeks later (Day 1 & Day 2)! We’ve been pretty busy at school, with our masters and traveling to Dubai. Day 3 turned out to be pretty great!

We made breakfast at the apartment…yogurt with muesli and BACON (on the side, not in the yogurt ;))! Jeff ended up eating pork at almost every meal while we were there. This summer should be interesting!

We headed out to Dionysus Theater. Before going in we bought a combo ticket that allowed us entry into several of the most famous sites. The tickets are valid for 4 days so there is plenty of time to hit everything. The Theater is at at the base of the acropolis. We explored a little but decided to save the Acropolis for later.

Next we walked to the Temple of Olympian Zeus. We were constantly amazed at how old and huge everything was!

In an attempt to save some money we tried to find a grocery store to buy food for a picnic. We failed. SO we ate at Smile again for lunch. This time we had the calamari. Except we ate it the way the Greeks do…grilled!

Our plan to go to the Acropolis in the afternoon was spoiled when we walked up to find out it was closed. With less than 24 hours left in Athens we panicked a little! We had to settle for seeing it from afar (again).

We consoled ourselves with a little more geocaching! It was a hard one…but Abby is getting to be a professional at finding those!

We continued walking around Monastiraki square and Plaka for gifts and souvenirs.

After 3 days full of walking we needed a few minutes of downtime (and drinks) so we stopped by our apartment before going to see the sunset at Areios Phagos (Rock of Aries near the Acropolis).

It was a little disappointing. But hopefully next time we’re in Athens we’ll be able to see a good one!

We went to the grocery store for the fixins to make our own Greek salad (minus the olives). It was fantastic! We aren’t huge feta fans but the Greeks sure know how to do it!

Entrance to our apartment. One of the coolest things about Athens is the ruins everywhere!

The perfect last dinner with a little TV!

Afterwards we went to Smile for one last visit. We couldn’t leave without having the famous Loukoumades! Connie treated us to homemade Greek yogurt with honey after the donuts…we’re going back just for that deliciousness!

We had AMAZING luck with the weather while we were in Greece! Even though we missed our original flight in Doha, we also missed all the heavy rains and flooding. Our 3 full days were gorgeous and we even got a little sun-kissed 🙂

Athens – Day 2

Posted on 25 February, 2013 by Lissa Layman

See Athens – day 1.

Yesterday consisted of lots of walking, a little running and lots more walking!

We started the day with the ceremonial changing of the guards at the Parliament. It takes place every Sunday at 10:30am and was pretty cool! (Video to come)

From there we walked to the Acropolis and bought 12€ tickets that grant us access to all the national archaeological sites and museums (valid for 4 days). We walked over to the Roman Agora before exploring the Ancient Agora. We’re still wrapping our heads around how old this stuff is!! While in the area we walked around Monastiraki square. All the while Jeff was on the look-out for geocaches 😉

About 3pm we decided it was time for lunch. We stopped for another round of gelato….

…before another meal at Smile. We’ve made it a goal to eat there everyday we’re in Athens 🙂 This time Connie (the owner) surprised us with homemade Greek yogurt and honey. Words cannot express how good it was!

After delicious beer and food, we walked to the Panathenaic Stadium. We were really excited for this…but it was even more amazing than expected! I dare say it was the best part of our trip! We toured the stadium (an audio tour is included in the 3€ entrance fee), saw all of the posters and torches for every Olympics since 1896 and ran a lap around the track. Priceless.

We had a quick pit-stop at the apartment before heading down to the port. We took the tram and walked the Zeas Port and back.

We walked along the red (pen) lines.

We stopped for dinner in Mikrolimano at a place recommended by our AirBnB host. We were the only ones in the restaurant, but the fresh fish was worth it!

Fried baby blunt snouted (mullet)

Small gilt head bream

After dinner, we were surprised with an after dinner liqueur that we were told would make us sleep well and have good dreams – masticha, a traditional drink to the island of Chios. It was…interesting! We made it back to the metro by midnight and collapsed when we got to the apartment!

We’ve noticed that many Greeks have been incredibly nice to us since we got here! Connie at Smile, the server at Trehadiria (dinner), a random guy at the tram…we’ve loved it here and can’t wait to come back!

Athens – Day 1

Posted on 23 February, 2013 by Lissa Layman

Today made our crazy day yesterday worth it! We had a great sleep last night with the help of the amazing ‘blinds’ that are pretty standard in Europe. Jeff went out for breakfast (Greek pastries) and some essentials this morning. After getting ready for the day we headed out! We walked the 7ish minutes to the Acropolis. Amazing. We explored the Filopapou Hill while geocaching!

Can you see the cache?

We made our way to the top during our hours in the park.

We meandered to the north side if the acropolis for lunch (gyros and beer if course). We did a little more exploring before having some gelato and heading to the New Acropolis Museum for 2.5 hours (must go there I’d in Athens!). We found a small (health food) market for 2 bottles of wine and a bar chocolate.

Greek wine!

We headed back to Smile for more deliciously amazing food!

Spanakopita

Moussaka

Pork souvlaki

We’ll have many more non-iPhone pictures when we get back to Kuwait 🙂

Καληνύχτα και όνειρα γλυκά

We made it…finally!

Posted on 22 February, 2013 by Lissa Layman

It has been a DAY! We were at the airport in Kuwait by 3am. Our flight left on time and we were excited to experience Qatar Airways for the first time. When we arrived in Doha, it took us awhile to get off the plane (we were near the back), get on the bus, go through security and arrive at our gate to leave for Athens. By then they had closed the gate and would not let us on (even though we didn’t have any checked luggage). No one along the way ever gave us special consideration thinking that we might miss our connection. We were not the only ones from our flight (but apparently there were a few who did make it) and we were told to go to be transfer desk. We were booked for the 1pm flight…and that’s all. We were nice and asked what they could do for us…nada. Upon further insistence we did get a voucher for (nasty) breakfast. Luckily I didn’t get the I edible eggs on toast like Jeff and Abby!

Amongst all this…the blame was put on US for not making our connection. We were labeled as ‘gate no show.’ The most frustrating thing throughout the whole morning was that they never took responsibility for what happened. And they didn’t treat those passengers who missed the flight the same (some got into the silver lounge…others had to beg to even be put on the 1pm flight). The positive was that the airport did have free wifi! The views flying out of Doha were beautiful!! (Pictures when we get back)

In Athens, we missed he metro into the city by 10 seconds (literally) and then had to wait 30 minutes for the next one. We switched to the tram in the center of the city on our way to our AirBnB apartment. When our stop came…the door didn’t open! We had to go past our stop and walk back in the pouring rain. Jeff left to see about getting a SIM card for his phone and Abby and I waited to see if our ‘host’ showed up. She did…minutes after Jeff left but we had no way to contact him!

We finally made it to the cute apartment!

Luckily the rain had stopped so we dropped our stuff and headed out for a bit to eat at a recommended restaurant!

It was amazing to be able to order a beer with dinner again!

The food was amazing…(oven baked feta)

…but the gyros were to die for! In Abby’s words…”I’ve never eaten a gyro until this moment.”

On top of the amazing food, the service at Smiles was fantastic! We may or may not be contemplating going back everyday 😉

Goodnight from Greece!

Happy birthday!

Posted on 26 January, 2013 by Lissa Layman

This long weekend is in honor of prophet Mohammed’s birthday (PBUH). We’re taking full advantage of the extra time to have fun, eat good food and relax!

Treats from the Arabic department for Prophet Mohammed’s birthday.

The excitement started on Wednesday morning when we booked tickets for Andrew to come visit during his spring break! His girlfriend, Shannon, is studying abroad in Barcelona and will be meeting Andrew in London for a layover before flying together to Kuwait for a week! We’re all pretty excited 🙂

Wednesday night we enjoyed Turkish food and shisha at Afendim with some friends that we took Arabic classes with. It was a great time had by all…even though the three of us think we have had some side effects from shisha (feel slightly sick).

Thursday morning Abby and I joined some other friends for breakfast at Cocoa Room. It was amazing as always. We shared the cinnamon roll French toast, eggs menemen and hash browns. As we were finishing up our meal, a server came over with an order of peanut butter pancakes. We told him they weren’t ours…but a few minutes later another server came over and told us they were on the house. We were all full, but could you pass these up?!

Peanut butter pancakes!

After Abby and I recovered from our sugar coma, we decided to take advantage of the day and head outside…for some geocaching!

Thursday’s weather

Jeff, Abby and I walked a couple miles along the Gulf in the gorgeous weather and logged a 2-part multi-cache.

Geocaching…in Arabic!

Along the way we found a palace that we hadn’t noticed before. we thought about exploring but decided against it 😉

No one’s going in there…

We weren’t the only ones that were out enjoying the day…there were tons of people grilling and having picnics!

Picnicking on the Gulf.

Thursday evening we met up with our friend Dana for dinner and drinks (strawberry juice and 7up sans alcohol, obviously) at her place. We then headed to City Center for bowling! Jeff and Dana were styling 🙂

It was the first time we’d been to this mall which is known for it’s cheap shops and shoe outlets. I found 2 pair of Nine West boots for 22kd before we headed upstairs to bowl.